Books to inspire following the American election results

We won’t dwell on the enormity of the impact of the American election result. Or the fact that sales of dystopian fiction have surged following the result (see Guardian article here). We know you know and we’ll only get ourselves all het up again if we start to speak of these things.

So, instead we will provide an antidote and inspiration from books in the shop. First up is But What Can I do by Alistair Campbell. Published in 2023, the book is a how to guide on effecting change and developing our skills of advocacy and persuasion. If we think things need to change, then we need to change them, and that means getting involved.

Next is the wonderful The More Beautiful World our Hearts know is possible by Charles Eisenstein. An empowering antidote to the cynicism, frustration, paralysis, and overwhelm so many of us are feeling. The book replaces these feelings with a grounding reminder of what’s true: we are all connected, and our small, personal choices bear unsuspected transformational power.

And our final recommendation is News for Nowhere by William Morris. The utopian fiction book tells the tale of William Guest, a Victorian who wakes one morning to find himself in the year 2102 and discovers a society that has changed beyond recognition into a pastoral paradise. in which all people live in blissful equality and contentment. Who wouldn’t want that>

Okay so we have to sneak in one dystopian fiction title, The Parable of the Sower by the prescient Octavia E. Butler. we so hope that one doesn’t come true.